The formal dedication of the Krompart-Hildebrand Digitization Lab on the first floor of the Kresge Library took place on Friday, August 26.

A reception and tours of the library’s Archives and Special Collections followed the ceremony.

The dedication was made possible through the generosity of Library Professor Emerita Janet Krompart and her family. They chose to honor Linda Hildebrand, also a Library Professor Emerita because, according to Lee and Leona Krompart, “it honors Linda Hildebrand’s longtime friendship with our mother Janet.”

The Krompart family’s $50,000 donation will fund digital projects and specifically allow for the digitization of all the OU school newspapers, including the Oakland Observer, Focus Oakland, Oakland Sail, and the Oakland Post, dating back 55 years.

“This very generous gift has allowed us to create a digitization lab and for the conversion of many archival documents, as well as other library materials to digital formats,” said Dean, University Libraries, Stephen P. Weiter. “It will allow us to make those materials more accessible to the public and help the original documents stand the test of time.”

Providing digital access to the school newspapers helps to preserve the materials in the collection by reducing the need to access the original documents directly, while making the historical content widely available.

In addition to the school newspaper project, efforts are currently underway to digitize more than 1,000 historical photographs in the library collection.

Dean Stephen Weiter, left, looks on as Lee Krompart and Linda Hildebranddo the official ribbon cutting for the new Krompart/Hildebrand DigitizationLab on August 26, 2016.